Reddit Launches Live Blogging Platform

Reddit has officially launched RedditLive, a new feature where anyone on the platform can create their own live blog via a subreddit. The feature has been in beta for a few months but now anyone can get at it and live blog at will.

Are we still in a place where this means journos will whine about professionalism, ethics, and recall the mob mentality surrounding some reddit threads and news events? Probably. If so, it’s probably time to shed the pretense. Reporting needs to be mobile, live, and transparent. RedditLive doesn’t have to be a publisher, though that’s technically what it is, but could be a really good source for you in the newsroom. Although, someone is live-blogging their midnight snack.

I think that reddit is sort of a self-cleaning machine. There’s a lot of noise over there, and that’s a good thing. When something is wrong or missing, people notice. It’s like the “eyes on the street” effect for the web.

This week, I tweeted a link to a New York Times article about the white flags on the Brooklyn Bridge. The story amused me for its brevity, lack of information, and a sense of snark in an NYPD quote. When I went to link to that story this morning for another piece, I found it entirely flushed out and reported. No hilarious quotes from NYPD, not even a link to “an earlier version.”

The gall! At least with live-blogging platforms, there’s a record of updates and corrections. I understand that the white flag story eventually found an angle and required more words (also debatable), but it’s like the slate was wiped clean and the initial lack of information — which remains the best angle — never happened.

Go forth, citizen and professional journos, and live-blog. Just don’t delete your mistakes!